Car prices are still insane.

[Piotrsko]

Think the power estimates for the PI are a bit off.

Gates would have to know who you are to do any damage. Can't believe he does, unfortunately, you're down in the noise for him. I could see if you personally pissed him off, but no evidence of that.

[freebeard]

Gates would have to know who you are to do any damage. Can't believe he does, unfortunately, you're down in the noise for him. I could see if you personally pissed him off, but no evidence of that.

I made good money helping his victims. Steve Ballmer shares culpability.

But now he's playing doctor.

[Isaac Zachary]

The more power you have the more damage you are going to be capable of, regardless of intentions. And sadly we live in a society that what is beneficial for one part of humanity can be damaging to the other part.

That goes for car prices too. The more money a company can get out its customers, the better for the company and its investors and/or its providers, and vise versa. Free cars generally don't make money.

[freebeard]

Whatever happened to the downloadable and 3D-printable car, anyways?

https://3dprint.com › 288238 › 3d-printed-car-company-local-motors-shuts-down
3D Printed Car Company Local Motors Shuts Down
17 Jan 20223D Printed Car Company Local Motors Shuts Down January 17, 2022 by Michael Molitch-

[redpoint5]

The expanded capability of the individual has been a net-positive thus far. Every innovation is a double-edged sword.

[freebeard]

https://www.sema.org › government-affairs
Government Affairs | Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)
Home Government Affairs The decisions made in Congress and the halls of state capitols have an enormous and growing effect on the automotive specialty-equipment market. State and Federal laws and regulations frequently impact the way automotive aftermarket products are made, distributed, and marketed.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e8/84...087d64c12f.jpg

[redpoint5]

Dad had a Chebby as deteriorated as that, but it was a stepside and the suspension wasn't ruined.

[Piotrsko]

Fire that ride up and betcha it's driveable when the lift kit gets up to pressure.
Sign on front wheel says they are installed.
That look of disrepair is intentional engineering and in no way a detriment.

Just would hate to drive it down a LA street because it screams pull me over to inspect. Aka chip bait.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Nissandriver

I often wonder if Cash for Clunkers wiped out a huge portion of old cars. I've been looking for a decent B13 Sentra parts cars for years and I can't find anything worth buying. More than 10 years ago, I could never find a decent parts truck for my 1991 Toyota pickup.

Cash for Clunkers should have been called Cash for Guzzlers. A car had to be rated at less than 18 mpg EPA combined to qualify. The program took a lot of old body-on-frame SUVs and full size trucks out of circulation. My parents traded in a rusted out E150 Econoline van with a bit over 300K miles on a 2010 Toyota Prius and qualified for the full $4500 rebate. That Prius was their first "foreign" built car and based on the reliability I doubt they will ever buy another US branded vehicle.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Anyhow, if Tesla is paying more in straight wages, I consider that to be higher pay than including all the other nonsense fluff companies often throw in (how is pet insurance even a thing?).

Tesla pays less in cash and benefits. Tesla pays their assembly workers about $40 / hour (wages and benefits). The "imports" pay about $55 / hour. A UAW assembly worker brings in about $65 / hour

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Being the type to see the positive out of most any situation, increasing UAW labor costs simply speeds along development of automation that will drive down production costs, making goods more affordable for everyone.

There is little left to automate in a US vehicle assembly plant. Body-in-white and paint are already almost completely automated. Final assembly is VERY hard to automate. The only real automation opportunity left in material handling and that is also highly automated.

At this point the easiest solution is to just shift production from the US to Mexico. Labor is 1/10th the cost and steel is 25% cheaper due to the US import tariffs.

Originally Posted by redpoint5

...as a tangent, I have suspected for quite some time that the US would onshore manufacturing again due to diminishing need for a labor market due to automation. The pandemic seems to have speed up that process.

I've seen no onshoring at my company. I have seen an increase in offshoring both in assembly and engineering with Mexico getting most of those jobs. At the tier 2-5 level we have seen a lot of movement out of China and to other Asian countries both to avoid tariffs and because Chinese auto workers make too much now. Vietnam and Thailand are hot locations for new part production right now.


Related to this topic - the UAW strike will only extend shortages of vehicles by taking production offline and reducing inventory. Depending on how long it goes on we could be back to near 2020 levels of lost production.

I expect this to be a long strike as the UAW's asks are not even close to being in the realm of reality and they have a new President that was elected with the promise of bringing back the union glory days of the 70's.

GM's current offer is $82,000 in base wages and $150K a year in wages and benefits. The UAW called that poverty wages.

On the other hand Ford just made a deal with their Canadian union workers for a 19% raise over 3 years (10%, 2%,3%). At the end of 3 years a top rate Canadian worker will make $33 / hr (USD) which is $1 more than what a Ford UAW worker in the USA makes today. They also got yearly inflation cost of living adjustments and workers will go from the base rate to top rate in 4 years instead of 8.

The UAW wants $43 / hour in year 1 and $62 / hour in year 4 in base wage. Add in benefits and the UAW is asking for between $135 and $150 per hour depending on how you calculate the cost of healthcare for life.